From the ground up

[C what I mean]

Hi All,

Well, my wife has decided to kick me out. She wants my home theater room
for her use.. But.. in exchange I get to build a new theater, building and
all if I can put a plan and a budget together. I have one year to
accomplish the plan and six months to do the build once I start. I don't
want to pay a theater designer to do this because I am a do it yourself kind
of guy. I may take the final plan to have it looked at, but I want to put it
together with input from others first. I plan on doing much of the build
except the roof, wall finishes and floors..

What I am looking for here are suggestions. I don't have an unlimited
budget but I think I can get a reasonable one. I have most of the equipment
already such as the speakers, projector and screen. I have a 7.1 receiver
that is decent but in a year and a half may beg to be upgraded.

Speakers system is the Klipsh THX Ultra 2 system. The screen is a Carada
100". The projector is a BenQ PE8720. I will have to upgrade the DVD player
to HD. The receiver is a Denon AVR-4308.

If anyone is interested in throwing in their two cents worth.. I am looking
for a room size idea first. I have an available space (ground) of up to
40'x40' max.
The bldg will be away from the house so I have an entrance to do as well.
I want to have at least two rows of seating.
I have a theater couch for one row and four recliners for another row.
Can change
1) Is it better to go wider or deeper if I want to add?
2) Since this will be away from the house, I will have a restroom
but do I want a food bar? (I have a full size popcorn machine that I want to
use)
3) How many can a room this size accommodate comfortably with a
food bar?

Again, I have a year to plan this.. so if there is a lot of interest I will
work on that plan here as much as possible. Any comments or help would be
appreciated.

Thanks,

Craig

[Roy Starrin]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:09:45 GMT, "C what I mean" <no
> wrote:
>Well, my wife has decided to kick me out. She wants my home theater room
>for her use.. But.. in exchange I get to build a new theater, building and
>all if I can put a plan and a budget together.
SNIP
>The bldg will be away from the house so I have an entrance to do as well.
> 2) Since this will be away from the house, I will have a restroom
>but do I want a food bar?
So you are going to need a door, electricity, water and sewer, heat
and/or A/C. I would somehow build it as an offshoot of the existing
home, but it's your money.
I would discuss it with the folks here:
http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/forumdisplay.php?f=23
and you may want to muck around in here:
http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/
at least scrolling down to the section on HT design and construction.
Do you know an architect? See if you can get any general guidance on
how to add it to your property. Once a decision is made you may also
want a set of professionally drawn plans, due code requirements.
You can construct "it" - you may want someone with savy to define "it"
My 2 cents worth. Perhaps worth what you paid for it.
starrin

[C what I mean]

"Roy Starrin" > wrote in message
...
> .
> SNIP<
>> > So you are going to need a door, electricity, water and sewer, heat
> and/or A/C. I would somehow build it as an offshoot of the existing
> home, but it's your money.
> I would discuss it with the folks here:
> http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/forumdisplay.php?f=23
> and you may want to muck around in here:
> http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/
> at least scrolling down to the section on HT design and construction.
> Do you know an architect? See if you can get any general guidance on
> how to add it to your property. Once a decision is made you may also
> want a set of professionally drawn plans, due code requirements.
> You can construct "it" - you may want someone with savy to define "it"
> My 2 cents worth. Perhaps worth what you paid for it.
> starrin
>
Thanks for the links and the input.. I will check out those links and lurk
a bit.

I do plan on having the plans drawn before I start construction since I do
need a permit. But I want everything defined as much as possible prior to
having that done. I will most likely AutoCAD it before I get that far.

The reason for the location is that I have a spot specifically set aside for
it at the end of the pool area. It will be about 50' from the main house.
You will have to walk thru a Japanese garden to get to the entrance, and
that is by design.. so hopefully it will be nice.

I have power, water and a sewer line to my septic tank already within reach
in anticipation that some day I would have to do this. ;-)

I just finished building my house about two years ago and I am an electrical
contractor and engineer with way too many constructions toys to play with..
so building it doesn't scare me. Just looking to make it a fun project..

Thanks again for the input.. The search begins!

[C what I mean]

Roy,

I knew about the home theater forum but never really looked around it much..
your tip we very helpful! I found a good chunk of ideas there. As a matter
of fact I found one that was just about the same layout that I was looking
for.

thanks


"Roy Starrin" > wrote in message
...
> On Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:09:45 GMT, "C what I mean" <no
> > wrote:
>>Well, my wife has decided to kick me out. She wants my home theater room
>>for her use.. But.. in exchange I get to build a new theater, building and
>>all if I can put a plan and a budget together.
> SNIP
>>The bldg will be away from the house so I have an entrance to do as well.
>> 2) Since this will be away from the house, I will have a restroom
>>but do I want a food bar?
> So you are going to need a door, electricity, water and sewer, heat
> and/or A/C. I would somehow build it as an offshoot of the existing
> home, but it's your money.
> I would discuss it with the folks here:
> http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf/forumdisplay.php?f=23
> and you may want to muck around in here:
> http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/
> at least scrolling down to the section on HT design and construction.
> Do you know an architect? See if you can get any general guidance on
> how to add it to your property. Once a decision is made you may also
> want a set of professionally drawn plans, due code requirements.
> You can construct "it" - you may want someone with savy to define "it"
> My 2 cents worth. Perhaps worth what you paid for it.
> starrin
>